


Natsume's a Shoujo Hero, After All

by hopeandjoy



Series: Natsume Week 2017 [2]
Category: Natsume Yuujinchou | Natsume's Book of Friends
Genre: F/M, Holding Hands, M/M, May 16th: Celebrations/Get-togethers, Natsume Week 2017, Pining, Valentine's Day, way way too much chocolate
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-16
Updated: 2017-05-16
Packaged: 2018-11-01 09:44:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,707
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10919283
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hopeandjoy/pseuds/hopeandjoy
Summary: Natsume didn't expect Valentine's Day to even register on his radar, but somehow at least half of the first-year girls are lining up to give him chocolate. Worse, someone leaves a love letter prepping for a confession, but there's only one person Natsume actually wants a confession from.And he really doesn't want him to know that Natsume's being confessed to.Or: Natsume is the other type of Shoujo hero, for once.





	Natsume's a Shoujo Hero, After All

**Author's Note:**

> valentine's fic in may? yes? yes.

Truthfully, Natsume had absolutely no expectations for Valentine’s Day. By the time he had been in middle school, he had either been moved around so much that he was leaving or arriving right when the holiday hit or his reputation had been thoroughly tanked. But that was just as well, if Natsume were to be honest with himself. He had little attachment to the idea of getting chocolate from the girls in his class and didn’t entirely understand the excitement that had gripped Nishimura the entire week leading up to the holiday.

All this lead to Natsume’s surprise upon arriving at school and opening his shoe locker only to find a box of chocolates had already been left inside of it.

The note read: _To Natsume-kun,_

_Happy Valentine’s Day! I hope these chocolates reach you safely. If you have time, I would enjoy it if you would meet me behind the gym today after school._

_\- Tanaka Nozomi, Class 1-4_

Natsume lifted the lid on the chocolates.

They were homemade.

Natsume slowly replaced the lid on the chocolates before stuffing them in his bag. He really hoped that he wasn’t blushing. And more importantly, he had no idea what to do about the note. If Natsume was guessing right (and there was no guarantee that he was, he, by his own admission, had little experience with things like “normal social interaction between human teenagers”) then this Tanaka wanted to confess to him after school. Natsume knew that he had to turn her down, he wasn’t interested in dating someone he didn’t know and exposing them to dangers they had no concept of, but it left a sick feeling in his stomach. Would she get mad? Cry? Smile sadly and accept it? None of those options sounded particularly easy to witness to Natsume.

“Natsume? Why are you just standing there?”

Natsume started and looked to his left where Tanuma standing, holding his shoes.

“Oh, Tanuma! I was,” Natsume started to say before he paused. More than he didn’t want to talk to Tanaka, Natsume really didn’t want to tell Tanuma about the chocolates in his locker. Natsume had come to some sort of peace with the fact that if he were going to date someone, he wouldn’t mind so much if it were Tanuma, even if the idea of him being in danger made him even more sick with worry than the idea of someone who didn’t know Natsume’s secret being involved with him did. But all that did was make Natsume even more reluctant to share this particular incident with him. The last thing Natsume wanted was to upset Tanuma – or worse, have him smile and wish Natsume luck and mention that it would be nice for Natsume to get a girlfriend. Natsume pasted a smile on his face and hoped that Tanuma wouldn’t read too much into the pause. “I was thinking about how Sensei was eating up all my allowance again.”

“Maybe you should put him on a diet again,” Tanuma said.

Natsume sighed. “Every time I do, he just goes behind my back to eat more or pesters me until I can’t stand it anymore. I think I just have to resign myself to my fate.”

“Sounds like Ponta.” At this, Tanuma’s smile faltered and Natsume noticed him slightly shuffling his feet. “Hey, Natsume…” he began. “Would you mind walking home together today? It’s been a while since we walked, just the two of us…”

Had it? Natsume couldn’t really remember. More importantly, the sick feeling in his stomach wouldn’t let up. There was nothing Natsume wanted to do more than to walk home with Tanuma, but he wouldn’t feel right standing Tanaka up either. But he didn’t want to let Tanuma know what was up either. “I’d love to,” Natsume finally decided on saying. “But there’s something I have to take care of first after school.”

“That’s fine,” Tanuma said. “I don’t have anything I have to do today other than school and homework. I’ll just wait for you at the front gate.”

“Alright, I’ll see you then,” Natsume said and began his walk to class.

***

If Natsume had been expecting that the chocolates in his locker would be the end of the whole Valentine’s Day business, he was surely mistaken. His only saving grace, Natsume thought as he watched Sasada march to his desk carrying a box of chocolates and a determined look, was that Nishimura had not arrived yet.

“Natsume-kun! Happy Valentine’s Day!” she said. “Here, I made this for you.” Sasada placed the box on Natsume’s desk.

“Oh, thank you,” Natsume said. Did you say thank you when friends gave you chocolate? Natsume really wasn’t 100% sure, but it seemed right.

“You’ll have to tell me how they turned out,” Sasada said. “It was the first ti-“ She cut herself off and coughed. “Anyway, I’m just curious how they turned out.”

“I’ll let you know.”

Sasada smiled. “Oh, by the way, have you seen Nishimura-kun yet? I have some for him too.”

“Not yet, but I’m sure he’ll be in soon,” Natsume said.

“Well, if there’s not enough time before homeroom, I’ll just give his during lunch.”

***

Lunch was worse.

It started off fine, Sasada handed Nishimura a box of chocolates that Natsume had seen the other day in the store while he was picking up ingredients for Touko. Taki had swung by shortly after that and handed both Natsume and Nishimura a small box of store-bought chocolates, which prompted Nishimura to mutter sadly something about “obligation chocolates”.

The problems started afterwards with scores of girls approaching Natsume’s desk with chocolates. Some came right up, some had to be pressured into it by their friends, and others shyly approached with their eyes on the floor. Natsume could barely do anything but stammer out thanks and stare at the growing pile of chocolates overtaking his desk. He had to have moved Touko’s bento to his lap in order to make room for the piles and piles of candy overtaking his workspace and all breathable air.

Nishimura made a displeased groan from behind Natsume. “Geez, pretty boys get all the luck.”

“I don’t… I don’t understand,” said Natsume. “Why me?” He asked, watching the newest group of girls leave.

“Are you kidding Natsume?” Nishimura exclaimed. “You transferred here, you stare out windows dramatically, your anemia occasionally makes you faint, and you have blond hair and stupidly long eyelashes!”

Natsume pulled on his hair self-consciously. “Girls like that?” he wondered.

“Hell yeah they do! You’re like… Like the mysterious transfer student in a Shoujo manga, just waiting for the heroine to uncover your secrets.”

That was a thing? Natsume had never been particularly drawn to any kind of manga, so he didn’t really know. Furthermore, the last thing he wanted was for someone to uncover his secrets. “If it would make you feel any better, I could share some of this with you,” Natsume said.

“What? No way dude, it tastes better when you’ve earned it yourself. Probably. Besides, I am happy for you. You deserve to have people notice you, dude.”

Natsume smiled. “Thanks, Nishimura.”

Nishimura waved his hand. “No problem.”

***

Natsume shuffled nervously as he waited behind the gym. More than even the upcoming confession that he had to turn down, Natsume was getting nervous because he hadn’t seen Sensei at all since they had parted ways at the school’s front gate. The last thing he wanted was for Nyanko-sensei to witness the whole thing and decide it was great material to tease Natsume with for the next month (or indeed, perhaps the rest of Natsume’s life) or worse – for him to pop out and just start talking because he hadn’t cared to notice who Natsume was with. That was something that Natsume had had to cover up while he was with Nishimura and Kitamoto one too many times.

At last, Natsume saw someone approach who, thankfully, wasn’t Nyanko-sensei. Instead, she was a girl, who Natsume assumed was Tanaka. She looked nervous, but otherwise much like most of the other girls at the school. Natsume did not recall seeing her around before, but he did have a bad habit of not paying attention to his classmates. (In his defense, there was a point in his life where he hadn’t expected to stay anywhere longer than a few months. The last time he had spent anywhere near the amount of time in one place before the Fujiwaras had taken him in was when Natsume’s father was still alive.)

“N-natsume-kun,” Tanaka stammered.

Natsume tried to smile in the most disarming way he could. “Hello. Tanaka-san, was it?”

“Yes,” Tanaka said. She had a sort of airy voice, though Natsume didn’t know if that was just from her nervousness. Her face was beat red. “I, uh, I know we don’t know each other well, but I’ve watched you for a while whenever we come across each other ever since…” She stared at the ground as if it held the answers to all of life’s mysteries. “Ever since I slid on that puddle in December and you caught me before I fell.”

He had done that? Natsume couldn’t quite remember, but it did sound vaguely like something he would have done. Actually, now that he thought about it… “Yes, I remember that. It wasn’t a big deal, I just sort of reacted…” he said.

Tanaka took a deep breath before making a perfect 90 degree bow. “Anyway, I was just thinking that maybe we could get coffee or a movie or something in town but only if you want to I mean I don’t want to pressure you or anything and I know that you’re probably busy,” she said, the words moving almost faster than Natsume could understand.

“Um…” Natsume started. “I wouldn’t mind maybe doing something together if you really wanted to, but only as friends. I’m not really looking for a relationship at the moment.” It was a half-truth, something that Natsume was uncomfortably familiar with. He really wasn’t looking for a relationship right now and there were no girls he was interested with, but if someone in particular asked him… Well, maybe anyway.

“Oh, thank God,” Tanaka said, straightening up and putting a hand to her chest.

Natsume blinked. “Huh?”

“It’s true that I’ve been watching you and I wanna get to know you but I’m not interested in you that way. But my friends all think I’ve got a crush on you and so when one was making chocolates for her boyfriend she gave me the extra and wrote the note. And she was all ‘I’m such a great friend Nozomi-chan, I know you would be too shy to do it yourself’ and excited for me so I had to put them in your locker. And then I knew I couldn’t leave you hanging but I was too embarrassed to just explain.”

Natsume smiled. “That’s alright Tanaka-san. I think it’s good that your friends were looking out for you, even if they shouldn’t have pressured you. I’m actually walking home with a friend today, but if you want come see me tomorrow and we can work something out.”

Tanaka laughed. “Geez, Natsume-kun!” she said. “That’s why all the girls are all over you!”

Natsume blinked. “But I-“

Tanaka waved her hand. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to fall in love with you or anything. I like people with a little more-“ Tanaka made a vague motion in front of her chest. “Y’know?”

Natsume, in fact, did not know, but said anyway: “I see.” But still, he saw Tanaka off with a wave before turning to leave himself. Of course, that was the very moment that Nyanko-sensei popped out of the bushes. “Sensei!” he said. “Please tell me you didn’t see any of that.”

“You mean you stammering your way through that girl’s speech until it turned out to be the type of wacky misunderstandings that children of men seem to love? Of course I did, these ears aren’t for nothing!” Nyanko-sensei said. He sniffed the air. “Natsume, are you hiding food from me?”

“Sensei, no.”

“Sensei, yes!”

“Sensei, cats can’t have chocolate because it can kill them.”

“I am not a cat!”

“Canids can’t either!”

“I’m not some common dog either, Idiot Natsume!” Sensei said as he flipped open Natsume’s bag to behold the mountain of chocolate inside. “Woah! I thought you said your allowance was running low.”

“It is,” Natsume snapped, closing his bag again and beginning to walk towards the school gate. “I got these chocolates from the girls at school for Valentine’s Day.”

“Hmm? What is that, and why didn’t you inform me that another food-based holiday was coming up? Man, first Christmas and now this? You humans keep adding more and more holidays every century.”

Natsume blushed. “It’s when girls are supposed to give chocolates to guys they like. For some reason, it seemed like half the first year girls all had chocolate for me.”

Sensei hummed. “You seem pretty annoyed for someone who got that much candy.”

“I’m not interested. I didn’t know half of those girls and Taki and Sasada gave me chocolate as friends – and I don’t see them that way besides.”

“Oh yes, I bet that Sasada girl gave you chocolate as a friend,” Nyanko-sensei muttered.

Natsume glared at him. “So it was mostly me stammering thanks and that I was busy while all the guys glared at me. I hate standing out that much.” Natsume stopped. That really was the crux of the matter, wasn’t it? He never wanted to seem abnormal, and he wanted attention, but only from those whom Natsume trusted. Standing out had never brought anything but hurt to Natsume’s life before.

Nyanko-sensei side-eyed Natsume for a moment before clambering up his shoulder. “Well,” he said. “I bet you wouldn’t mind if that Tanuma brat gave you some chocolate.”

Natsume felt the heat consume his face. “S-sensei!”

Nyanko-sensei just chuckled.

***

Although Tanuma had seemed like he had wanted to say something to Natsume the whole walk towards the bus stop, their walk was largely the same as it always was. Well, except that Natsume noticed that he was avoiding the subject of the current holiday when Nishimura and Kitamoto had been all too happy to talk about it earlier in the day.

“Natsume, where did Ponta go?” Tanuma asked. It was only then that Natsume noticed the weight had vanished from his shoulder.

“Sensei?” Natsume called. “Sensei, are you still around?” Tanuma looked worried, but Natsume only shrugged. “I’m sure he’ll pop up again later, you know how he is.” At that, the two of them continued their walk. Still, Natsume noticed Tanuma messing with the flap of his bag.

Finally Tanuma stopped in the middle of the path and Natsume stopped with him. Tanuma reached into his bag and pulled out a box. Natsume noticed that his face was flaming. “Natsume,” Tanuma said, voice steady. “I made you this,” he continued and placed the box in Natsume’s hands. It was probably the smallest box that Natsume had received all day. He opened it up and inside where four small truffles. “I had my dad help,” Tanuma explained.

Natsume felt his heart beating, but managed to say “Thank you, Tanuma.” He carefully placed the box at the top of everything in his bag. “I think these are the best ones I’ve gotten all day,” Natsume said before he could stop his mouth.

“I’m glad,” Tanuma said. “If you want – and if Touko-san doesn’t need you for anything – you could stay at my house tonight. If you want.”

Natsume smiled, even though he thought that the sun might be less warm than his face was currently. “You said ‘if you want’ twice,” he teased. Natsume took a deep breath before gently grabbing Tanuma’s hand with his own. Natsume’s hand felt covered with sweat, but Tanuma didn’t seem much different.

It was the best thing ever.

“I’d like to come over,” Natsume said.

“Okay,” Tanuma said.

They held hands all the way to the station, on the bus, and even during the walk to Tanuma’s home, even when Nyanko-sensei popped out from underneath Tanuma’s porch to tell them it was about time.

**Author's Note:**

> natsume is so damn pretty AND he looks out windows dramatically AND he faints all the time AND he was a transfer student.
> 
> of course he would get swamped. teenage girls love that shit. source: am a former teenage girl
> 
> tanumas also love that shit, but that's canon.


End file.
